In brief: Aardman reveals plans for Sony era

What no Wallace... Neither the northern inventor nor his canine sidekick are mentioned in an announcement about Aardman Animations' future plans.

Stray cats trying to pull the Great Milk Float Robbery, a high-tech Santa and his combat elves organising Christmas with military precision, and a pirate trying to save the last dodo from Queen Victoria's dining table - these are some of the ideas for movies which British studio Aardman Animations has in the pipeline, the company said yesterday. The firm recently signed a deal with Hollywood studio Sony following the end of its arrangement with DreamWorks. In addition to these movies, Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park will also direct a film. No mention yet, though, of a return for the absent-minded inventor and his canine sidekick.

Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson and Eddie Izzard are joining Tom Cruise and Kenneth Branagh on the production of Valkyrie, the controversial drama about the 1944 plot to kill Adolf Hitler, starring Cruise as would-be assassin Claus von Stauffenberg. Directed by Bryan Singer and written by Usual Suspects scripter Christopher McQuarrie, the film attracted controversy when it was announced last March, with relatives of von Stauffenberg objecting to the Scientologist star portraying the staunchly Catholic figure. They also fear that the film would be a "propaganda" conduit for the Church of Scientology (see our previous story here). Filming on Valkyrie begins in Germany in July.

Woody Allen's first ever film in Spain could be called Midnight in Barcelona, according to the Annie Hall director, who is notoriously private about his forthcoming movies. "It's the first title I picked but it's possible that it changes," he told Spanish reporters yesterday as he was scouting locations for the film, which will begin production next month. Starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson, Midnight in Barcelona will be the first of two films shot in Spain.

Bernardo Bertolucci will receive a special Golden Lion for career achievement at the next Venice film festival, it was announced yesterday. The features of the Italian director (The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky) "are at the same time declarations of love to cinema and also a manifesto of future utopias that find ways to regenerate themselves from past ones," gushed festival head Marco Mueller.

He has been Italy's prime minister and owns AC Milan and several TV channels, but that does not seem to be enough for Silvio Berlusconi. He is now writing a screenplay. Over the weekend the media tycoon said he was writing a script for a film that will come out in Italian cinemas next year. "This is all in a very preliminary stage," a spokesman for Forza Italia, the political party Berlusconi founded, told The Hollywood Reporter, declining to add further detail. It is as yet unclear what the movie will be about.